Jacobin Club

-          Seen as ultra-radical revolutionary group later on

-          Founded after 1789 Estates-General in Versailles

-          Originally composed solely of deputies from Brittany

-          Some of the earliest members: Mirabeau [a renowned orator], Abbé Sieyès [author of What is the Third Estate?, a later member of the Directory, conspirator with Napoleon during the Coup of 18 Brumaire, the original Second Consul during the Consulate, and then president of the Senate], Antoine Barnave [one of the most influential orators of the Revolution], Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve [president of the Constituent Assembly, second mayor of Paris, first president of the Convention for Eure-et-Loir, and member of the first Committee of Public Safety; later jealousy of Robespierre led him to become a Girondin], Maximilien Robespierre [see below], Louis de Saint-Just [close friend to Maximilien Robespierre and a member of the Committee of Public Safety], and Joseph Fouché [who would later become Napoleon’s Minister of Police]

-          It’s members would eventually include the Louis Philippe, the future king of France

-          During the National Constituent Assembly, the club gathered in the Jacobin Church on Rue St. Honoré

o    ‘Jacobin’ was a term used to refer to Dominicans, because their first church in Paris was on Rue St. Jacques

o   The Jacobin Club was named after the Jacobin Church it gathered in

-          After the promulgation of the constitution of 1791, the club was titled Société des amis de la constitution séants aux Jacobins a Paris

-          Name changed on 21 September 1792 [after the fall of the monarchy] to Société des Jacobins, amis de la liberté et de l’égalité

-          The Club’s objects:

o   1.  To discuss in advance questions to be decided by the National Assembly

o   2.  To work for the establishment and strengthening of the constitution in accordance with the spirit of the preamble (that is, of respect for legally constituted authority and the Rights of Man)

o   3.  To correspond with other societies of the same kind which should be formed in the realm

-          Organization

o   President: elected monthly

o   4 Secretaries

o   A Treasurer

o   Committees elected to superintend elections and presentations, the correspondence, and the administration of the club

-          They had a policy of admitting similar societies in France as associates, which quickly gave them branches all across the country

o   This gave them a widespread yet highly centralized organization, which lent to their growing power

-          Could dismiss members who were seen as acting against the constitution or the Rights of Man

-          Maximilien Robespierre: the driving force behind the Jacobin party

o   The ‘oracle of political wisdom

o   Strict on ‘virtue’; later advocates justice through terror

-          Centralized Republic concentrating more on collective rights of man than on personal rights

-          Few in number but well organized, unlike the rest of the parties during the time

-          Most members were well-to-do for their class

-          Lost power after the execution of Robespierre

Girondins

-          Sometimes called ‘Brissotins’, after Jacques Pierre Brissot, the mouthpiece of the Girondins in the National Assembly and Jacobin club

-          Not an official political party, but rather a collection of people holding similar ideals within the Legislative Assembly and National Convention

-          Named after the region of Gironde, where the most brilliant of the people associated with this group came from

-          Quoted as being “a brilliant and eloquent group of orators”

-          In the Legislative Assembly, their views weren’t fully Republican, but were much more advanced than royalist

o   Wanted a Republic like that of Ancient Rome before the Empire

-          Notable members: Thomas Paine [from the American Revolution], Claude Fauchet [Revolutionary bishop and one of the leaders of the storming of the Bastille], Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud [seen as the best orator of the Girondins], Jacques Pierre Brissot [one of the Revolution’s most vocal supporters], and Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve [see Jacobin Notable Members]

-          Gathered at Mme. Roland’s salon

-          “Represented the principle of democratic revolution within and of patriotic defiance to the European powers without”

-          Held a large amount of power in the Jacobin club

-          Supported war with Austria

-          Opposed to the monarchy

-          Although ideal-wise very similar to the Montagnards, their leaders were in complete opposition to each other

-          During the Legislative Assembly they were seen as radical and opinionated

-          During the Convention, compared to the other groups, they were seen as conservative

-          Did not like to associate with the Parisian mob, which was a mistake on their part

-          Were men of little action, which greatly contributed to their downfall

-          Wanted a return to normalcy, while the Montagnards and Jacobins felt that it was in their better interest to continue the revolutionary fervor

-          Jacobins and Montagnards allied to overthrow the Girondins

-          Girondins had a majority in the Convention

-          Robespierre took the head of the Jacobin Club from the Girondists

-          When the Girondins voted for an ‘appeal to the people’ at the trial of Louis XVI, they were denounced as royalists

-          Tried Jean-Paul Marat and Jacques Hébert on trial and attempted to abolish the revolutionary Commune; all of these failed due to popular uprisings

-          Became even more unpopular after the assassination of Marat, which was the final seal on their fate

-          On 28 July 1793 the Convention published a list of 21 deputies to be put on trial by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and on 31 October they were all guillotined as ‘traitors and enemies of France’

-          The Girondins were formally reinstated after the fall of Robespierre and seen as ‘martyrs of liberty’

 

Cordeliers

-          Formally known as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

-          Members were from the district of Cordeliers

-          Originally held meetings in the church of the monastery of the Cordeliers (the name the French gave to the Franciscan Observantists)

-          From 1791 onwards they met in a hall in the Rue Dauphine

-          This group popularized the motto Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

-          Aim was to keep an eye on the government

-          Wanted to strike against the monarchy

-          More moderate members, such as Georges Danton [leading figure of the Revolution] and Fabre d’Églantine [president and secretary of the club and a member of the Jacobins], left

-          At that point the Enragés, such as Jacques Hébert [author of the journal Le Père Duchesne], took control

-          Moved to create the Revolutionary Army

-          After Danton and Desmoulins opposed the club’s views on the continuation of the Terror, it disowned them and attacked Robespierre

-          As a result, on 24 March 1794 the leaders of the club were guillotined and the club died away

 

Enragés

-           Radical revolutionaries

-          Enemies of the Jacobins

-          Some of the original leaders were Jacques Roux, Jean Théophile Victor Leclerc [who was expelled from the Jacobin club for being too radical], and Jean Varlet

-          Their demands:

o   Controlled prices on grain

o   Making the assignat [the new revolutionary paper money] the only valid currency

o   Repression of counter-revolutionary activities

o   A progressive income tax

-          Supported by the san-culottes

-          Wanted a direct Democracy ran by the san-culottes, state-owned business, and death for anyone seen as monarchic

-          Gave support to the Revolutionary Republican Women

-          After fighting against Robespierre, they  reemerged as Hérbertistes

Dantonists

-          From 1793-1794

-          Followers of Georges Danton

-          Notable members: George Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles [president of the Legislative Assembly]

-          Preached an end to the Terror [although they originally had supported it]

-          Wanted to establish a Committee of Clemency instead, to review charges against the accused

-          Were not nearly as interested in the fine definition of ‘virtue’ or the ideals of Rousseau, which was a sharp contrast to the Robespierrists

-          Dantonist mouthpiece: Desmoulins’ journal Le Vieux Cordelier

Robespierrists

-          Followers of Maximilien Robespierre

-          Notable members: Maximilien Robespierre, Augustin Robespierre [the more famous Robespierre’s brother, and an early supporter of Napoleon], Jacques-Louis David [the most influential French artist of the 19^th century], and Georges Couthon [member of the Committee of Public Safety for some time and later became the president of the Convention]

-           Revolved around the idea of ‘Virtu’ [or virtue] and the supremacy of public good over personal good

-          Before taking power, Robespierre fought against the death penalty

-          Believed that the people of the Revolution were innocent and good, while those of the Ancien Régime were evil

o   Justification for the Terror: the evil of the old government had to be cleared away for the new virtuous one to take control

o   Justification for the Law of 2 Prairal (denying the accused of the right to a lawyer, to witness, and to defense): the desire of defending oneself against the state was a definition of guilt

§  The law also represented the Robespierrists fear that people could twist words against their beloved ‘virtue’, and so denied them the chance

§  Believed that it was a vice to separate the meaning of a word from personal meaning

-          Were against both atheism and Catholicism

-          Obsessed with death, incorruptibility, and constant claims to martyrdom

 

Hébertists

-          Followers of Jacques Hébert

-          Prominent members: Jacques Hébert and Joseph Fouché [see Jacobin Notable Members]

-          Very similar to the Enragés

o   Differed in as much as they didn’t support complete state-owned business or price-fixing on grain

-          Main goals:

o   Death for the Ancien Régime

o    De-Christianization

§  The movement was atheistic

-          Was popular based and not very politically strong

-          Perhaps the group that took the greatest joy and thrill from the executions

-          Shared the Robespierrist belief in the basic goodness of the people of the Revolution

-          Created the Cult of Reason; meant to counter Robespierre’s Cult of the Supreme Being

 

Feuillants

-          Originally part of the Jacobin club

-          Notable members: Marquis de Lafayette [General in the American Revolution and later opponent of Napoleon], Jean Sylvain Bailly [president of the Third Estate, leader of the gathering at the Tennis Court, and the first mayor of Paris], Dr. Joseph Guillotin [inventor of the guillotine], and Antoine Barnave [one of the people who escorted Louis XVI back to Paris after his famous flight and was the one who led the club out from the Jacobins]

-          Supported a constitutional monarchy

-          Enemies of the Girondins due to their opposition to the war with Austria

-          Main beliefs:

o   Freedom of the press

o   Freedom of speech

o   Belief in the Rights of Man and Citizen

o   Land requirement for voting

-          Met in the former monastery of the Feuillants on the Rue Saint-Honoré

o   Feuillants were a Cistercians order of monks

Société des Républicaines Révolutionaires [Society of Revolutionary Republican Women]

-          Created in 1793 by women of the sans-culotte

o   Originated by Pauline Léon and Claire Lacombe [known for her vehement arguments on the Convention for the right of women suffrage]

o   Lasted only 6 months before being closed down by the government

-          Identified as part of the Enragés

-          Organization

o   President, VP, 4 Secretaries

§  elected first Sunday of every month

§  reelection allowed only after 2 months

o   2 Monitors

§  one to check members’ cards upon entrance, the other to keep order

o   Treasurer and 2 assistant treasurers

§  the two were to keep check on each other

o   Archivist and an assistant archivist

§  position kept for 3 months

o   3 committees: Administration, Relief, and Correspondence

§  Each had 12 members, 6 of which are replaced every 3 months

o   Elections done by role-call voting

-          Accepted only ‘citoyennes of good habits’[1]

-          Must be at least 18 years of age to become a member

o   A mother’s children were allowed in, but did not have any say in the deliberations

-          Allied with the Jacobins in the Girondin/Jacobin struggle

-          Foci:

o   obtaining bread for the people

o   improving literacy

o   women suffrage

o   the right to bear arms

 

Société Fraternelle de l’Un et l’Autre Sexe [Fraternal Society of One and the Other Sex]

-          Founded in February of 1790 by Claude Dansard [

-          Foci:

o   civic education for the people

o   equal rights for women

-          Entrance fee: only 2 pennies

-          2 male and 2 female secretaries

-          Notable members: Jean-Lambert Tallien, Merlin of Thionville, Jacques Hébert, Etta Palm d’Aelders [a female spy before the Revolution], Louise de Kéralio [first female writer-in-chief of a newspaper ; specifically Newspaper of State and Citizen], and Théroigne de Méricourt [one of the leading women figures of the Revolution who ran her own salon, visited by many of the other heads of the Revolution]

-          From 1791, women in the club were not to marry men dubbed as aristocrats

-          Became a branch of the Jacobins

Carabots

-          Not very much of a group at all, but rather a collection of middle-class ex-militia men whose troop was dissolved and who wanted to stay together

-          From June to July of ’93 they were part of the Girondins, but in August they were completely dissolved

 

Club des Impartiaux

-          First Royalist club of the Revolution

-          Was gone by the time of the Constituent Assembly

 

Club of 1789

-          Royalist group consisting of more moderate members of the Breton club who refused to be part of the Jacobin club [which was what the Breton club had become]

-          Notable members: Lafayette and Abbé Sieyès

-          Part of this club eventually became the Feuillants